THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) yesterday said about P21.72 billion worth of illegal drugs have been seized in the war against drugs under the administration of President Marcos Jr.
During the celebration of its 21st foundation anniversary yesterday, the agency disclosed that over 3,000 “drug personalities” have also been arrested.
In a video presentation, PDEA said it has delivered “numerous successes” since July last year, in compliance with the directive of the President.
“From July 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023, PDEA conducted 1,477 anti-illegal drug operations and arrested 3,057 drug personalities,” it said. “Large quantities of illegal drugs were seized.”
It said the seized illegal drugs included 1,645 kilos of shabu, 804 kilos of marijuana, 17.55 grams of cocaine and 31,192 pieces of ecstasy.
It added the drug personalities arrested included 2,605 “high-value targets,” including an elected official, six uniformed personnel, 42 government employees and 33 foreigners.
The agency said 626 of the anti-drug operations conducted were “high-impact” ones, leading to the dismantling of clandestine drug laboratories and 68 drug dens, among others.
PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr., who graced the PDEA rites as the guest of honor, told reporters: “I can say, when it comes to accomplishments, operations and the number of arrests, we have a good number, statistics.
“We are doing our best efforts to curtail demand reduction and supply reduction,” said Acorda.
Acorda said the PNP is focusing on high-value and street-level individuals as part of the supply reduction efforts, adding the police force is giving similar attention to demand reduction, or reformation of drug users.
“It’s not good if we will just address one (supply reduction). It should be both (supply reduction and demand reduction). Just like a tree, if we cut only the branches and we won’t go after the roots, it will not be an effective campaign,” said Acorda.
